Smelting-furnace.



PATENTED AUG. 6, 1907.

2 SHEETS-SHEET 1.

G. G. VIVIAN.

SMELTING .PURNAGEL APPLIGATION FILED MAR. 18, 1907.

4%HHHH PATENTBD AUG. 6, 1907. G. G. VIVIAN.

l SMELTING PURNACE.

APPLIOATION FIL-1m 111111.18. 1907'.

ZSHEHTS-SHEBT 2.

2 sii. .i I.

- N UNITED STATES PATENT OEEIOE.

GEORGE GORDON VIVIAN, OEDENVER, COLORADO, ASSIGNOR OF ONE-HALF TOLAFAYETTE HANOHETT,. OFSALT LAKE CITY, UTAH.

Patented Aug. e, 19o?.

Application filed March 18, 1907. Serial No. 363,068-

Be' it lknown that I, GEORGE GORDON VIVIAN, a citii zen of the UnitedStates'of America, residing at the cityand county of Denver Iand Stateof Colorado, have invented a new and useful Smelting-Furnace, ofwhichthe following is a specification.

`My invention relates to improvements inreverberae tory smeltingfurnaces; and the objects of my invention are: 'first,lto provide areverberatory smelting furnace capable of continuous work and operatingwith a high degree ofefficien'cy and economy.- Second, to provide an oresmelting furnacain which the matte is adapted to be drawn off at itsfront end portion, or the end furthest from its fire box, andconsequently the coolest portion of the furnace. Third, to provide, anore smelting'furnace in which the slag is adapted to be drawn off at itsback end portion or the end nearest to its fire box, v and consequentlythe hottest portion of the furnace. Fourth, to provide an ore smeltingfurnace in which the hearth or slag chamber is provided at its front endportion with angular walls diverging from the central portion of thehearth for a short distance, and with ore feeding chutes'in said wallsarranged to connect through the side walls of the furnace with a supplyof ore preferably through the medium bf ore holding and feeding hoppers,and a't their lower ends extend through the sides 5 of the walls into orclose to the floor surface of the hearth,

l y 'cannot fall from the'ore chutes Onto and into the molten values bythe carrying off by the draft of the so as'to discharge ore directly incontact with and `into the body of molten slag normally 'restingon thehearth when smelting orne, and so arranged that the ore ore slag, andthat are arranged to feed the ore into the furnace at its'front endportion, and `into the coolest portion of the hearthl chamber and of thebody of molten ore thereon. Fifth, to provide an Ore] smelting furnacein which the ore is fed on the molten; ore body in such a manner astopcompletely eradicate, eliminate, and prevent a'ny possibilityoflosing any of the ore products of combustion'as it flows from the firebox to the chimney, ofthe ore dust. Sixth, to provide an ore smeltingfurnace arranged to smelt o re and to which Ore can be fed and the slagwithdrawntherefrom Without admitting cold air to the hearth chamber, andto the molten ore, and that is constructed Without door-controlledopenings in its sides and roof through which to feed ore and to withdrawor skim off the slag. And seventh, to provide a simple, easilyconstructed, thoroughly prac-l tical smelting furnace Qf thereverberatory type, that .will extract a matte product from the ore of ahigher trated in the accompanying drawings, in which:

Referring to the drawings, the numeral 1, designates in general areyerberatory furnace embodying my invention. v

-2 designates the foundation side walls; 3, the foundation rear endwall; and 4, the foundation front end Wall.

5 designates the fire bpx. This fire box: is made narrower in width thanthe body of the furnace, and is formed in the center of the width of thefurnace, and is made of a length sufficient to receive a grate surfaceof sufficient capacity for the size of the furnace.

6 designates the fire grate; 7 is a coal entrance hopper "in the roof ofthe fire box, and below the grate bars an ash pit 8 is formed.

A-hearth 9, which may be constructed of any suitable material and may bearranged in any desired manner, is formed on the foundation walls 2 and3 and 4, and'a fire bridge walllO: is formed between the fire box andtheadjacent end of the furnace. This bridge wall is a vertical extensionof the rear end Wall above thev end of the hearth, and extends beyondthe fire box, and with the foundation wall 3 Aforms the rear end of thefurnace. The foundation walls 2 and'3 and 4 extend above the hearth vandare integrally formed, and a roof 11 extends integrally from the sidesand ends over the hearth,l thus ,formingy a molten ore chamber l2 abovethe hearth.

' At the front end ofthe furnace is a'fiue 13, connecting witha chimney14, which extends from one corner of the front endof the furnace.

The several features above enumerated are common to all reverberatorysmelting furnaces; and in addition to these features the reverberatoryfurnaces'in use are provided with doors in front and in their sides,through which the slag is skimmed off from the body of melted Ore on thehearth, and through which the operation may be watched and repairs made,and ore is sometimes fed through these doors to the hearth. The feedingof thev vore however, is most generally done through door-controlledopenings in the roof of the furnace, from hoppcrs positioned above theopenings, and the ore is fed in intermittent charges of largequantities, which fall into the molten slag with a splash, whichscatters the slag 'and matte onto the innerl surface of the hearthchamber,

thus causing an immense amount of dusting, alarge volume'of which,carrying values, is carried up the chimney. The splashing of the hotslag and matte against the walls of the hearth 'chamber causes them tobe rapidly eaten away andl to deteriorate and to shrink Y greaterfluidity and ebullition atthis point and mixes more freely with andsettles slowerthan at the front end and this results in a portion of thematte being carried the operator to watch the smelting operation and tokeep rside walls to near the apex or front end .of the furnace or expandand to finally crack from the unequal heat.

The slag is drawn off through doors located at the furthest end of thefurnace from the fire box, which is the coolest part of the furnace, orthrough doors in the sides of the furnace, in such a manner that theconditions are unfavorable to the settling of the matte and the skimmingoff of the slag portion of the melted ore on the hearth, and when doorsare used for this purpose, a large volume of cold air is admitted to thefurnace, causing a chilling of the slag, which in a measure prevents aproper and free settling of `the matte or metal values to the bottom ofthe slag, and along the bottom of the l hearth, and the admittance ofcold airV to the slag-chamber also causes rapid contraction andexpansion and subjects the furnace to severe strains that cause itssides and roof to crack. The matte or liquid metals are drawn offthrough doors located at the side of the furnace,

ff with the slag, as it is hotter at this point-than at the front end ofthefurnace, and the matte is in a state of of the furnace. Y

My invention, however, contemplates a radically different arrangement oftheiore-feeding, slag-tapping and matte-tapping lelements ofreverberatory smelting furnaces, and a construction that will prevent aloss of values by dusting, by imperfect settling of the matte, and byalternate cooling and heating, which also results in an unnecessarywaste in fuel and in time. To accomplish these results, I form the flue13, which connects with the chimney 14, at or adjacent to the front endof the furnace, and preferably in the center of the width of the furnaceand in its roof, and' I shape th hearth of the furnace square at thefire box end, and with straight parallel sides to-near the front endportion of the furnace, from which point the sides convergek intostraight angular walls l5, which meet at the center of the front end ofthe furnace, at which point a metal or matte tap-holelG is formedthrough the frontend wall. Thistap hole is placed on a level with thebottomjof the hearth-and at the fire-box or rear end wall of the hearthI place one or more slag tap-holes 17, preferably using two and placingthem one on each side of the fire-box. These slag tap Vholes are placeda trifle above the bottom of the hearth so as to drain the upper portionof the body of molten slag llying on the hearth. The roof of the furnaceis made solid and without openings of any kind, and the sides of thefurnace are also preferably madesolid except that two entrance doors 18are preferably placedv in each side wall, which allow the insideentrances ofthe slag tap-holes in goed order, as they require occasionalrepairing to prevent their being burned out Atoo large in diameter toproperly keep the slag under control. An air chamber 19 is also formedbetween the side and end foundation walls below the hearth. In the walls15 of the angled front end portion of thefurnace, I form ore feedingchutes 20 inthe form of oblong apertures which sta'nd at an outwardlyinclined angle from where they enter the furnace. I preferably arrangethese feed chutes to ex tend along the greater portion of the length ofthese angled walls from the point where they intersect the sae, 684.`

Where they come together. These oppositely disposed ore feed chutescould be Aeach made in one long narrow aperture or'slot, but in order toinsure the greatest strength of wall I preferably form two or three ormore ore chute apertures, five being illustrated, at a short distanceapart, and leave an integral portion of the wall as a partition betweenthem to support and tie the hearth face portion of the wall to theoutside portion of the side and end walls. These ore feeding chutesextend down through the angled walls of the furnace, to or close to thefloor'of the hearth, and in their top lentrances I fit the dischargingends of a pair of orefeed hoppers 21 and 22, which are connected bylaunders 23 with ore-storage bins, which I do not illustrate.

Smelting ore consisting of concentrates from jigs and concentratingtables varying from about one-quarter inch mesh down toabout a hundredmeshand even finer, make up a large part of the character of size of theore product usually smelted in reverberato'ry furnaces,-

and all kinds of smelting ore that isfshipped direct from the mine,which when in large lumps passed through rock breakers and is reduced tosmall pieces, in which form it is easily fed through the hoppers andchutes to the hearth after being first mixed with proper fluxes whenthey are required.

As my invention contemplates the automatic and continuous gentle andslow feeding of ore to the furnace without any agitationA or movement ofthe ore that would raise its dust particles into the draft currentfiowing from the fire box to the chimney, the hoppers are provided withore enough to keep the feed chutes in the opposite angular Walls ofthehead end of the slag chamber full at all times. These ore chutes areadapt.- ed in area to feed and discharge ore continuously onto themolten body of ore on the hearth without allowing it to drop, and theslag tap holes and also the matte tap hole are adapted to becontinuously open in all cases where the ore smelts quickly and readily,and it is necessary to feed fast in order not to'allow the slag to lieany longer on the hearth than is necessary for it to arrive at tliedegree of the heat necessary to reduce it to that state of fluiditynecessary to allow all of the ores metallic Values to. separate from itsslag element, and easily and thoroughlysettle out of the slag, and formthe lower sti'atuin of the molten ore body along the floor or i h ea'rthof the furnace. But when complexer refractory ores are smeltedi'and thefeed though continuous is slow, it may not be drsirable or necessary tokeep the slag and vmatte tap-holes open all of the time., but it will besufficient to open them as required at intervals, as is customary. Buton ores that contain but little value and a large amount of slag, itmight bc necessary to keep the slag tap open continuously and draw offthe matte. at intermittent periods when a sufficientl quantity hasaccumulated. The slow easy continuous fiowing feed movementrrof the oreat the front end of the hearth directlyI on top of and into the body ofmolten ore prevents the fine dust particles of the ore from getting intothe fiame and heat and combustion draft that flows constantly and withconsiderable force from the fire box to the `chimney over the moltenore-slag. and thus completely and thoroughly era-d'icates thisparticular element of-loss of values from the economicl value of myfurnace. This automatic methodv of feeding ore'directly onto'landfintothe"l body of molten ore completely eliminates the splashing 'of themolten slag and` matte against the sides of the hearth or slag chamber,and also completely Aavoids the admittance of cold air into the hearthchamber from the opening of doors, as in the most advanced and perfectedtype of reverberatory furnaces in use at the quent chillings, is thusavoided, and the cost of labor and the wear and tearof the furnacegreatly reduced, making altogether an item representing a saving of`from about ten to twenty-five per cent. in the cost of treatment andhigher extraction of values, which when coupled with a large increasedcapacity of my antomatic feed `over intermittent manual feedingestablishes a far greater degree of utility, practicability, andeconomic .value for my' improved automatic feeding reverberatorysmelting furnace over all other reverberatory furnaces known to the artof smelting ores.

ln order to protect the slag outlet apertures from the intense heat ofthe interior of the furnace and scouring effect ofthe molten ore, I'place in the walls ofthe furnace a water jacket which may be of anysuitable con-` struction for this purpose, preferably illustrating awater carrying coil of pipe 24, which at one end extends from a supplyof cold water and enters the wall adjacent to a tap-hole and extendslaround the tap-hole and then at its opposite end extends out of thefurnace and leads to waste. i

lhe operation of my improved furnace is as follows: The ore is fed intothe hoppers from a source of supply, and flows freely into the feedchutes, which are always kopt full of ore, and the ore feeds by gravityinto the body of molten slag which is always from about one to two ormore inches deep on the hearth, and the ore feeds of its own weightthrough the ore chutes onto and into the bpdy of molten ore movingslowly and. gently into it only as fast as it melts, and as the feedchutes are positioned at the front end of the furnace, which is thecoolest part of the body of moltenlslag, it does not disturb or cool thehottest portion of the Imolten ore, which is at the fire box end or backend of the furnace, and as the .ore melts it flows towards the fire boxend of the furnace and is heated hotter and hotter, and the metalssettle to the bottom of it along the floor portion of the hearth, asmatte or metal, which is the collected fluid metals of all kinds in the4ore, and lthis matte flows along under the top stratum of the melted orewhieh'is the slag portion, and consists of the fluid earthy matter inthe ore, to the matte tap-hole at the front or fecdend of the furnace,while the hot slag is drawn off through the slag tap holes atthe firebox end ofthe furnace, and as the slag at this end of the furnace isinthe hottest zone of `thefurnace, it is of clearer fluidity andconsequently the metals of the ore settle out of it more readily andquicker and more thoroughly than out of the cooler portions of themolten ore slag,

and carries less values away than in furnaces where the slag is drawnoff through side doors that admit chilling air to the interior of thehearth chamber; moreover, the iiame and products of combustion of theiirebox in t flowing from the fire box to the chimney flue come incontact with the ore as it flows into the hearth chamber onto the moltenore body, and heats it and thereby aids in melting it and to that extentincreases the smelting capacity of the furnace.

Suitable metal launders which I do not illustrate,`are arranged; belowthe tap-hole spouts to conduct the slag and mattemaway from the furnace.

My improved automatic'ore feed reverberatory fur- -nace is simple andvthoroughly practical, and will enable ahigher percentage of the valuesof ores and a cleaner and purer matte tfr be obtained and an economicsaving to be made over the present reverberatory furnaces used forsmelting ores, and at the same time provides a continuous and a moreperfect smelting apparatus.

While I have illustrated the preferred construction and arrangement lofmy improved furnace, I do not wishl to be limited to it, as many changesmight be made without departing from `the spirit of my invention.

Having described my invention, what I claim as' new and desire to secureby Letters Patent, is:

1. A reverberatory smelting furnace comprising aheartli,V

3. A reverberatory smelting furnace comprising a. hearth;

a combustion chamber communicating therewith, a slag tap adjacent saidcombustion chamber, a matte or metal tap remote from said combustionchamber, and ore-feeding means adjacent said metal tap.

4. A reverberatory smelting furnace comprising a hearth, heating meanstherefor, a slag tap adjacent said heating if .means, a matte or metaltap remote from said heating means, and ore-feeding meansdisposed oneach side of said metal tap.

5. A reverberatory smelting furnace comprising a hearth, heating meanstherefor, a slagtap adjacent said heating means, a matte or metal tapremote from said heating means, and ore-feeding means adjacent saidmetal vtap and arranged to feed ore in proximity to said hearth. A 6. Areverberatory smelti'ng furnace comprising a hearth, heating meanstherefor, slag and matte or metal taps, and means adjacent said matte ormetal tap for feeding ore to said furnace in proximity to said hearth.

7. A reverberatory smelting furnace comprising a hearth having aconverging end, a matte orlmetal tap adjacent. said converging end,and'means adjacent said tap for feed-v ing ore to said furnace.

8. A reverberatory smelting furnace comprising a hearth having aconverging end, n matte or metal tap adjacent said converging end, andmeans adjacent said tap for feeding ore to said furnace in proximity tosaid hearth.

-9. A reverberatory sfnelting furnace comprising a hearth, heating meanstherefor, slag and matte or metal taps, and means for feeding ore tosaid hearth, said' ore feeding means comprising a plurality of channelsdischarging into said furnace in proximity to, said hearth. l K

10. An automatic continuousore feeding reverhetatory smelting furnace,eomprisingan operatively arranged and heated smelting furnacefhavifng .ahearth, a plurality of ore vfeeding chutes arranged at the frontend`portion of said hearth on pposlte sides of said hearth in its sidewhile the slag is clear and free from the metals or matte walls,arranged to discharge the ore adjacent said hearth.

11. An automatic continuous ore feeding reverberatory smelting furnace,comprising an operatively hearted hearth an ore feeding chute in thewalls ofthe front end -of the furnace arranged to continuously conveyand feed ore directly to vthe surface of said hearth, a matte tap-holeat the front end of saidhearth and furnace, a fire box at the back endof said furnace, and slag tap-holes at the hack endl of said furnaceadjacent to said fire box. Y

13. An automatic continuous ore feeding reverheratory smelting furnace,comprising an operative smelting furnace provided with a fire box, and achimney. and containing a smelting hearth and a hearth chamber, parallelside walls to said chamber, a rectangular end wall at its fire box orback end, and with converging angular walls at its front end that meettogether at the central portion of said hearth, a matte tap-hole at theapex of said converging angular side walls in the front end of saidAfurnace level withthe oor surface of said hearth, slagtap-holes in theback end wall of saidfurnace slightly`above the floor surfa'ce of saidhearth, and ore feeding chutes in the opposite converging angular wallstif-said hearth chamber arranged to continuously convey and'feed oredirectly into and onto the said body of molten ore onsaid hearth at thefront end portion of said hearth and furnace.

14. In an automatic continuous ore feeding reverberatory snieltingfurnace, the combination with the hearth, the front, the back, the sidewalls, and roof, the chimney, and the nre-box of a reverberatory oresmelting furnace, of a hearthchamber having at its front end convergingangular side walls arranged to converge from the side walls togetherandmeet in a point at the front end of the hearth, a matte tap-hole atthe meeting point of said converging walls through the front wall ofsaid furnace level with the floor surface ofsaid hearth, slag tap-holesat the fire box or back end of said furnace a little above the iioorsurface of said furnace, and positioned on opposite sides of said firebox, a plurality of ore chutes formed in the-opposite side walls of saidhearth chamber and extending from the outside of said walls through saidwalls to close to the floor surface of said hearth, saidore chutes beingarranged to feed ore continuously from opposite sides of said furnaceinto the opposite sides of and at the front end portion of said hearthand furnace, whereby said ore is fed continuously to the coldest portionof said furnace and isfed directly onto and into the body of molten` oreon said hearth, and the slag product of said molten ore flowing to andbeing tapped off at the hottest portion of said hearth and furnace, andthe matte Ilowing to and 'being tapped off at the front and coldest endof said hearth and furnace, the said positioning of the slag and mattetap-holes permitting the natural order of separation of the slag andmatte elements of the molten ore.

wall of said ore chamber arranged to convey ore through the wallsA ofsaid' ore chamber to the adjacent edges of said hearth, and meansincluding an ore feeding hopper for feeding ore to said chutes.

' 16. In an automatic continuous ore feeding reverberatorysmeltingfurnace, the combination of the combustion chamber, with thewalled inclosed ore chamber and the hearth, said ore chamber beingformed with its sides converging at its front end, a plurality of orefeeding chutes extending into each of the converging walls of said orechamber to close to .thesurface of said hearth and arranged and adaptedto continuously. discharge ore directly at and into the adjacent edgesurfaces of said hearth, means including a hopper provided with aplurality of ore discharge chutes for feeding ore continuously to saidchutes and hearth, means for tapping slag from said hearth at thecombustion chamber end of said hearth and ore chamber, and means fortapping matte from the front or coldest end of said ore'chamber andhearth adjacent io said ore feeding chutes.

17. In an automatic continuous ore feeding reverberatory smeltingfurnace, the combination with an operative combustion chambered firebox, of an .operatively wall-inr cased ore chamber, a hearth in thebottom of said cha1n ber, a plurality of ore feeding chutes extendingthrough the walled incased ore furnace of said ore chamber to saidhearth and adapted' to continuously feed'ore automatically to saidhearth as fast as said ore melts on said hearth, means including an orehopper provided with a supply of ore and connected to said plurality ofore chutes for feeding ore continuously to said hearth, a slag tap-'hole at the combustion chamber end of said furnace, a

matte .tap-hole at the front or opposite end of said furnace Y from saidcombustion chamber, and door-controlled openings in the side of saidfurnace arranged to control said slag tap-hole.

tending through the wall of said ore chamber from its top portion to theadjacent edge of the front end portion of said ore smelting hearth, andarranged and adapted to discharge ore continuously upon and onto andinto said bed of molten ore upon said hearth, means including a hopperconnected to said `ore chute and provided with a supply of ore forfeeding ore continuously to said ore chute and said hearth, a tap-holeor holes at the back or fire lbox and hottest end portion of said orechamber or hearth. arranged to dran' off the slag` element of Said bodyof molten ore, a-tapdiole at the front and coolest end portion of saidore chamber and hearth adapted to draw off the matte element of saidbody of molten ore, and suitable doored openings into said ore chamberand hearth arranged to permit operative control of the smelting of saidore in said ore chamber on said hearth and the slag entrances to saidslag tap-holes.

in testimony whereof l aiiix my signature in presence of .two witnesses.

GEORGE GORDON VIVIAN.

Witnesses: g

4i. SAnGnN'r ELLIo'rT, Aonnm M. FowLn.

